ABSTRACTS FOR INTERNATIONAL FAMILY HEALTH CONFERENCE 2019 (I-FaH 2019)
Introduction: Diabetes is a global epidemic and the public knowledge on this progressive disease is important to control the disease. This study aims to determine the diabetes knowledge of a community in Sungai Petani and the associated factors.
Methods: A cross-sectional study using multi-stage sampling was carried out in Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia between April to May 2019, by a validated and reliable questionnaire. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 25.0. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal Wallis test were used.
Results: Of 370 non-diabetic adults participated in this study with majority of them were females (61.9%), Malays (79.2%), had at least secondary education (53.5%), married (78.6%), overweight (34.6%), not-hypertensive (80.8%), had no family history of diabetes (52.2%) and not-smoking (86.8%). The mean ±SD age was 46.1 ±13. And median (IQR) monthly income was RM3037.40 ±3005.90. The diabetes knowledge median (IQR) score was 26.0 (9.0). Half of respondents did not know about items on “the different types of diabetes”, “diabetics should carry sweets when they are out” and “diabetics should not do-nate blood”. Diabetes knowledge was found to have significant association with diabetes screening uptake, income level, education level, marital status, BMI, family history of diabetes and smoking.
Conclusion: Diabetes knowledge among Sungai Petani community was found to be adequate but there is still misconception regarding diabetes and its management. Collective efforts should be taken to improve the general population’s knowledge on diabetes.